By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
Almost everyone who has played competitive sports have been in tense situations where nerves and choking have occurred. Double faults. Unforced errors. Passive play.
But have you ever been so nervous that you have been forced to serve underhand just to try and get the ball in play?
Kateryna Bondarenko has.
The 30-year-old Ukrainian, a quarterfinalist at the 2009 U.S. Open, was having so much trouble handling her nerves in her attempt to close out Saisai Zheng of China in the second round of the U.S. Open that when she reached her first match point, she hit her second serve underhanded! The underhanded serve – hit at 5-4, 40-30 in the third set – spun wide for her third double fault of the game and was preceded by a 62 mph first serve that was a fault. Earlier in the game, Bondarenko served both her double faults on that ad side – at 15-0 and 30-15.
Bondarenko next badly missed a volley and then hit an unforced forehand long to even the score at 5-5 in the third. She was able to break the equally-nervous Zheng the next game before being able to successfully serve out the match at 6-5. Bondarenko benefitted from three errors from her Chinese opponent in the final game to help her across the finish line by at 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-5 scoreline in 3 hours, 1 minute.
Bondarenko cited her previous double faults as to why she used the underhand serve on match point, as seen in my post-match interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZm0yh_azbw She also admitted she has used the underhanded before in matches!
Bondarenko led by two service breaks 3-0 in the third set against Zheng but, almost mysteriously, could barely hit a serve with her lead. Her serve speeds, that had hovered around 100 miles per hour, dropped to about 70 miles per hour. She double-faulted twice in the fourth game of final set to lose her serve at love and struggled to crack 80 miles per hour on her serve to lose her double-break advantage two games later. After Zheng held serve to take a 4-3 lead in the final set – winning her fourth game in a row – Bondarenko’s serve climbed back up near 100 miles per hour. The nerves were gone…for now. She held for 4-4, then broke Zheng to set up her first attempt to serve for the match, featuring this infamous serve.
Zheng has had her own history of not being able to close out matches. Last year in the first round of the U.S. Open she led Madison Brengle 5-1 in the third set before losing the last six games of the match to lose what was at the time, the longest ever women’s singles match at the U.S. Open in 3 hours, 20 minutes.
Zheng actually led 5-0 in the first set against Bondarenko and failed to serve out the first set three times before the Ukrainian tied the score at 5-5. After breaking Bondarenko the next game, she was able to serve out the set on her fourth try.
Said Bondarenko, “I think at a Grand Slam tournament, everyone is nervous.”
